I had an unexpected fall a few weeks ago and managed to rack up a minor concussion and fracture some bones around my eye. Don’t worry – I have my mug back and look and feel normal again! However, there are a few things that I’ve learned during this experience that I wanted to remember and share.

1. Doctors are humans. The quality of service varies greatly.

Doctors, nurses, and the professionals in between are simply humans like you and me. They can make mistakes, they have an emotional temperament, and some are better than others at what they do.

The first hospital that I was taken to via emergency vehicle was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had with regards to medical care. Not only did the medical professionals fail to answer my questions, address my concerns, ignore me to a good amount, and sedate me with drugs that I’ve been repeatedly told, they “should not have used,” but the overall environment was also defunct.

In fact, when I told the doctors that I was going to leave the hospital because they couldn’t hold me there, I was told multiple times that I was going to lose my eye. Thankfully, my eye wasn’t even damaged, it was the area around the eye, which after inspection, was the type of injury that would heal on its own. Believe it or not, the initial hospital had wanted to operate on my eye the next day!

I quickly checked out of this hospital and managed to get into another one, which had far better medical care. Unlike the previous, the medical staff actually saw someone when they spoke to the patient, rather than rattling off some kind of canned response. In addition, they correctly diagnosed my injury, made sure I was not ignored, and overall had a more pleasant atmosphere.

I’m not saying this to hate on hospitals that might not have enough financial resources to create a positive patient environment or hire the best doctors. I realize that is not always possible. What I am saying is that should you ever be in a situation that requires medical attention, never default to the care given by an establishment or particular medical professional. You can always seek other means to receive care.

2. Your family/friends are invaluable.

I would not have had the same outcome had my family and amazing friends not been there to help. Having someone or people there to fight for you, make sure the staff is attentive, and get questions answered is synonymous to having a lawyer when you need to defend yourself in a trial, or, heaven-forbid, you are in jail for some reason and need someone work the angles on the outside.

Not only is it a requirement from a practical standpoint, considering that you are likely low on energy and possibly disoriented, but I also think a patient is seen as being more “high value” intrinsically if there are people with them who are going to give you hell. In fact, this is the reason I was able to recover my wallet and smartphone after checking out, when I had been repeatedly told they had been missing and there was no way to recover them.

Strangely enough, the experience made me think about what I’m going to do when I’m older and it made me understand the importance of eventually having a family, with regards to elderly care.

3. Life is fragile, and ambition ultimately means nothing.

When you’re in the state of flux and not sure whether an injury or a condition will permanently change your life in some way, cause months worth of recovery, or alter the vision you have for your life, the last thing on your mind is ambition.

I couldn’t care less about what was happening with my business, my career, or anything. I just wanted to be spending quality time with my friends, my family, and feel good again about my health.

As a guy who is pretty single minded when it comes to accomplishing things in this world, that was kind of a strange feeling, but it was also a relief in some ways. I was reminded that ultimately the only things that matter in life are your health, your relationships, and your overall happiness. Everything else is secondary and eventually food for worms some day.

One minute you could be on top of the world and the next you can be in the gutter, or worse, have your life permanently changed in some way. Life is fragile, and the only way to live it is to fully experience and be grateful for every minute, not spend half your attention on your friends and the other half checking emails or looking at Instagram photos on your phone.

4. I don’t quite believe in God, but sometimes it seems like there is one.

There are some very much positive chance events that happened. By happenstance, without even realizing my family was coming, I managed to get in touch with them after I had checked myself out of the first hospital (they were around the corner of where I was in the city, which was not near the hospital. I thought they were still 5 hours away.).

This only happened because of the kindness of two strangers because I didn’t have any money, keys, or access to my phone. I was told by the first hospital that they were “missing” and had been “stolen or lost.” Of course, these ended up being canned responses, because we managed to get them the next day after 3 hours worth of questioning the staff.

Another reason it makes me think of a divine power is that I could have sustained a much more severe injury, hurt my eye, broke bones, or had a worse fracture that would require surgery. Thankfully, none of these happened and I’m already back to my old self.

Again, this happened with a close friend, who was able to look after for me and notify people that such and such had happened. It’s the last thing I would expect to happen, but I’m glad it did where/when it did ironically.

I don’t want to get into it too much, but a bunch of people who I wouldn’t expect both in my actual life and via social media reached out, were able to help when I needed it, and made everything so much better. That kindness is something that I want to repay in some way and really does make the difference when you are recovering.

Does God exist? Sometimes I think so after events like this, which could have gone the wrong way multiple times very quickly. Other times, I wonder about all the people who have had unfortunate events way worse than mine. It’s silly to think that I was “chosen” or “protected” in some way, but I have to admit that it’s made me re-evaluate what I’m doing with my life, how I’m helping others, and what my purpose on this earth is, even if that’s self-decided.

Thanks for your support!

Thanks so much to everyone who has been supportive. You mean the world to me and it was very my appreciated.